Tropescilloscope: Character Development

A character changes over the course of a narrative. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Adaptational Attractiveness Domestic Abuse Hypocritical Humor Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Reality Ensues Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane As Long as It Sounds Foreign Action Girl Novelization Have a Gay Old Time Daylight Horror Adorkable The Reveal The Quiet One Protagonist Title Vomit Indiscretion Shot It Will Never Catch On Double-Meaning Title Alpha Bitch Jerk with a Heart of Gold Central Theme Artistic License – Military Asshole Victim Rated M for Manly The Un-Reveal Action Prologue Creepy Child Hope Spot Kick the Dog Book-Ends Soundtrack Dissonance Improbable Aiming Skills Award-Bait Song Cool Shades Pretty Little Headshots "Shaggy Dog" Story Fingore Nice Guy BFG Creative Closing Credits Accidental Murder Rape as Drama Cain and Abel Aluminum Christmas Trees The Oner Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Major Injury Underreaction The Mole I Have Your Wife You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Big Applesauce Pretty in Mink Adaptational Villainy Evil Laugh The Remake Obviously Evil Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Red Eyes, Take Warning Rule of Funny Fainting Evil Is Hammy Big Fancy House Italian Films One Steve Limit Final Girl Unwitting Instigator of Doom Funny Foreigner Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! La Résistance Destination Defenestration Dirty Cop British Films Amoral Attorney Artistic License – History Jerkass Has a Point Anti-Hero Sci-Fi Horror Belligerent Sexual Tension Ascended Extra Wrong Genre Savvy Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Anti-Villain The Lost Lenore No Ending More Dakka Animal Motifs Blatant Lies Arc Words Serial Killer Smug Snake Drill Sergeant Nasty Curse Cut Short Broken Pedestal Self-Deprecation Didn't Think This Through All Girls Want Bad Boys Leave the Camera Running Badass in a Nice Suit The Faceless Twist Ending Red Right Hand Shown Their Work The '70s Pre-Mortem One-Liner Bavarian Fire Drill Moment Killer Unspoken Plan Guarantee Parental Abandonment Slasher Movie Male Frontal Nudity Artistic License – Geography Bland-Name Product Drives Like Crazy Closed Circle An Axe to Grind Morality Pet Kids Are Cruel Actor Allusion Laughing Mad Spiteful Spit Dirty Old Man Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Hypocrite All Men Are Perverts Actually Pretty Funny Better to Die than Be Killed Hell Is That Noise Adaptational Badass Pre-Asskicking One-Liner What You Are in the Dark Exact Words Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Advertised Extra The '50s And the Adventure Continues Friend to All Children The Alcoholic Shut Up, Hannibal! 20 Minutes into the Future Disney Death Continuity Nod Historical Villain Upgrade Kick the Son of a Bitch Logo Joke Made of Explodium Accidental Misnaming Mr. Fanservice Once More, with Clarity! Evil Plan Becoming the Mask Fun with Acronyms Insane Troll Logic Worthy Opponent Small Name, Big Ego Kubrick Stare Beta Couple Intrepid Reporter Celebrity Paradox Retirony Public Domain Feature Films Artistic License – Biology Alas, Poor Villain The Dreaded Soft Glass Demoted to Extra Maybe Ever After Riddle for the Ages Television Movie Index Daddy's Girl Insult Backfire The Hero Dies Dual Wielding Big-Bad Ensemble timeperiod folderlabel How We Got Here Meaningful Name Bald of Evil Police are Useless Room Full of Crazy An Aesop True Companions Five-Man Band Lampshade Hanging Guile Hero Shout-Out Amusing Injuries Chiaroscuro Gold Digger Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil In Name Only Suspiciously Specific Denial Psychological Thriller Thriller Coming-of-Age Story Film Noir Index Needs Wiki Magic Love Composite Character Due to the Dead Romantic Comedy It Can Think Downer Ending Irony Shipper on Deck Not Using the "Z" Word Neck Snap Damsel in Distress Mythology Gag Fourth Date Marriage Cluster F-Bomb Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Russian Films All There in the Manual She's Got Legs Camera Abuse The Big Guy Abusive Parents The Ditz Loophole Abuse Adaptation Dye-Job Insistent Terminology Hate Sink Refuge in Audacity Blood from the Mouth A Father to His Men Determinator aka: The Determinator Wham Shot Madness Mantra Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Too Dumb to Live Mistaken for Gay "Well Done, Son!" Guy Camp Gay Storming the Castle Costume Porn Film Noir Our Zombies Are Different Villain Opening Scene Kill It with Fire Good Is Not Nice Almost Kiss The Chick The '60s O.O.C. Is Serious Business Canon Foreigner Narrator Vomit Discretion Shot Make It Look Like an Accident Here We Go Again! A Date with Rosie Palms Mr. Exposition Manipulative Bastard Heterosexual Life-Partners Non-Indicative Name Neck Lift Manly Tears Bullying a Dragon Video Credits Science Fiction Films Armor-Piercing Question The Bully Reality Is Unrealistic Playing Gertrude Hooker with a Heart of Gold Overly Long Gag Villain with Good Publicity Artistic License – Gun Safety Disguised in Drag Vampire Fiction Paper-Thin Disguise Breaking the Fourth Wall The X of Y Never My Fault No Antagonist And I Must Scream Manchild Time Skip Spell My Name with an "S" Cruel and Unusual Death Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Vitriolic Best Buds Apocalypse How Roaring Rampage of Revenge No Name Given Tranquil Fury Translation Convention Deadpan Snarker My Beloved Smother Dies Wide Open Brainless Beauty Missing Mom Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Pay Evil unto Evil Works Set in World War II Running Gag Curb-Stomp Battle Ghost Fiction Cool Old Guy There Is No Kill Like Overkill Half the Man He Used to Be Bond Villain Stupidity Dissonant Serenity Be Careful What You Wish For Children Are Innocent Dutch Angle Sinister Minister Deal with the Devil Funny Background Event Eldritch Abomination Bar Brawl Red Herring Eiffel Tower Effect Catapult Nightmare Meaningful Echo Precision F-Strike Parental Substitute Fire-Forged Friends Meet Cute Kill 'em All Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Badass Boast Adapted Out Agony of the Feet Mama Bear Evil Brit Death Glare Market-Based Title Captain Ersatz The Film of the Book Cool Car Cold-Blooded Torture Christmas Movies Index Broken Bird Rule of Cool Get Out! Sacrificial Lion Lock and Load Montage Earn Your Happy Ending Mooks MacGuffin Hair-Trigger Temper You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Bloodless Carnage Meaningful Background Event Establishing Character Moment Anyone Can Die Slap-Slap-Kiss Evil Sounds Deep As the Good Book Says... Adaptation Distillation What the Hell, Hero? Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Sadistic Choice Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking '80s Hair Ambiguously Gay Freeze-Frame Bonus Took a Level in Jerkass No OSHA Compliance Male Gaze He Knows Too Much Everyone Has Standards Brutal Honesty Biopic Early-Bird Cameo Interrupted Suicide Punny Name Unusual Euphemism Film Series Demonic Possession Papa Wolf Black Comedy Rape Card-Carrying Villain Unresolved Sexual Tension Crazy-Prepared Improbable Weapon User Super Strength Contrived Coincidence Wounded Gazelle Gambit Dark and Troubled Past Martial Arts Movie The Smart Guy A God Am I The Alleged Car One-Man Army Famous Last Words Nice Hat Rasputinian Death Those Wacky Nazis Not Quite Dead Defiant to the End Brother–Sister Incest Scenery Porn Outrun the Fireball From Bad to Worse Scare Chord Bad Boss Faking the Dead Defrosting Ice Queen Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Chekhov's Skill Even Evil Has Loved Ones Police Brutality Jerk Jock Attempted Rape Love at First Sight Mind Screw Pragmatic Adaptation Babies Ever After Age Lift Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Dirty Coward Adaptation Name Change Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Well-Intentioned Extremist No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Only in It for the Money The Vamp Posthumous Character Adults Are Useless Disproportionate Retribution Recycled IN SPACE! After the End I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Deliberate Values Dissonance Plucky Comic Relief Not Even Bothering with the Accent Parental Incest Reckless Gun Usage Death by Adaptation Token Minority The Great Depression Revenge The '80s Disappeared Dad Improvised Weapon Hollywood Law Henpecked Husband The Stoner Only Known by Their Nickname All for Nothing Early Installment Weirdness Fiery Redhead The Bad Guy Wins Smoking Is Cool Chekhov's Gunman The Cavalry Taking You with Me Let's Get Dangerous! Pragmatic Villainy Epic Movie Slashed Throat Even Evil Has Standards Sequel Escalation Manic Pixie Dream Girl Failed a Spot Check Cool Old Lady The Ace The Lancer Ironic Echo Author Appeal Bad "Bad Acting" Off-into-the-Distance Ending Bilingual Bonus Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Re-Cut Imagine Spot Fantastic Racism Only Sane Man Corrupt Corporate Executive Only a Flesh Wound Music Stories Obstructive Bureaucrat Drowning My Sorrows You Killed My Father Mad Scientist Developing Doomed Characters Suddenly SHOUTING! Evil Is Petty Those Two Guys Anguished Declaration of Love Sports Stories Mystery and Detective Films Straight Gay Dumb Blonde Affably Evil Our Vampires Are Different Dramatic Gun Cock Properly Paranoid Heroic Sacrifice One-Word Title Would Hit a Girl Foreshadowing Off with His Head! Disney Villain Death Based on a True Story Title Drop The Dragon The Casanova Fat Bastard Stylistic Suck Men Are the Expendable Gender The Load Deconstruction Tagline Femme Fatale Eureka Moment Fatal Flaw Sealed Evil in a Can Eagleland Extreme Doormat Ambiguous Disorder No Celebrities Were Harmed Heel–Face Turn For the Evulz Bury Your Gays Badass Bookworm Anachronic Order Shirtless Scene Empathic Environment The Dog Bites Back Made of Iron The Mafia Jerkass Jitter Cam Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Poor Communication Kills He Who Fights Monsters The Starscream Ripped from the Headlines Ass Shove Villain Ball Badass Grandpa Death Seeker Comically Missing the Point Black and Gray Morality Face Death with Dignity The Cameo Genre Shift No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Scenery Gorn Not So Different Scary Black Man Diabolus ex Machina Product Placement Man on Fire Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Gory Discretion Shot Undying Loyalty The Sociopath Evil Counterpart Covers Always Lie Distracted by the Sexy Implacable Man Taking the Bullet Evil-Detecting Dog Stuff Blowing Up Shoot the Shaggy Dog Batman Gambit Light Is Not Good Bound and Gagged Random Events Plot Rich Bitch I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Antagonist Title Easily Forgiven Ambiguous Ending Slasher Smile Offscreen Moment of Awesome Idiot Ball Calling the Old Man Out Determinator Naked People Are Funny Department of Redundancy Department Documentary Stalker with a Crush Put on a Bus Stepford Smiler Hong Kong Films An Arm and a Leg Adult Fear Animal Title Index Romantic False Lead Danny Peary Cult Movies List Eyepatch of Power Fake Shemp Beard of Evil Bittersweet Ending Oh, Crap! Artistic License – Physics And Starring My God, What Have I Done? Foil N-Word Privileges Retired Badass Heel Realization The Ghost Suspiciously Similar Substitute Together in Death Creator Cameo Big Damn Heroes You Have Failed Me Monumental Damage Author Avatar Betty and Veronica Skewed Priorities Depraved Bisexual Action Genre Sanity Slippage Left the Background Music On I'm a Humanitarian Does This Remind You of Anything? Historical In-Joke Informed Ability The Chessmaster Humiliation Conga Humans Are Bastards Not So Above It All Country Matters Bowdlerise Bolivian Army Ending Facial Horror The Brute Punch-Clock Villain Pyrrhic Victory Aside Glance Bottomless Magazines "Awesome McCool" Name Your Cheating Heart What Happened to the Mouse? Epic Fail Would Hurt a Child War Is Hell Hero Antagonist Mercy Kill Crucified Hero Shot Credits Gag It's All About Me Knife Nut Immune to Bullets Retcon Chewing the Scenery Reality Has No Subtitles Peek-a-Boo Corpse Dark Is Not Evil Chekhov's Gun For Want of a Nail Only One Name Death by Sex Ungrateful Bastard Gone Horribly Right Blonde, Brunette, Redhead As You Know Big Bad As Himself Badass Longcoat Blood Knight Honor Before Reason In the Back Karma Houdini Captain Obvious Sequel Hook Pimped-Out Dress Rule of Symbolism Psycho for Hire Gender Flip Big Brother Instinct Enemy Mine No-Sell Not What It Looks Like Fish out of Water Shower Scene Race Against the Clock Dark Reprise Darkest Hour Unreliable Narrator Blackmail Overprotective Dad Auto Erotica Eye Scream Psychopathic Manchild From Nobody to Nightmare Heroes Want Redheads Older Than They Look Bi the Way Authority Equals Asskicking Villainous Breakdown Hero of Another Story Despair Event Horizon Darker and Edgier Combat Pragmatist Red Oni, Blue Oni Call-Back The Atoner Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Groin Attack Character Development Dull Surprise Say My Name The Smurfette Principle Woman in White The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Expy Affectionate Parody Those Two Bad Guys Faux Affably Evil Extremely Short Timespan Framing Device Lighter and Softer Parental Neglect Unusually Uninteresting Sight Match Cut Real Life B-Movie Tap on the Head Fanservice Canadian Movies Silence Is Golden Grievous Bottley Harm Race Lift Whole Plot Reference Wicked Cultured Stealth Hi/Bye Politically Incorrect Villain Motor Mouth Nothing Is Scarier Totally Radical A Minor Kidroduction Arranged Marriage Brick Joke Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Stealth Pun Silent Movie Black Dude Dies First Adaptation Expansion Genre Savvy Dramedy Not So Stoic Beware the Nice Ones Bunny-Ears Lawyer Dogged Nice Guy The Musical Villain Song Green-Eyed Monster Mexican Standoff Japanese Films Really Gets Around Foregone Conclusion Dressing as the Enemy Leaning on the Fourth Wall Take That! Butt-Monkey Dwindling Party Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Bait-and-Switch Casting Gag Stock Footage Did Not Get the Girl Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Ship Tease Bare Your Midriff Noodle Incident Serious Business Intergenerational Friendship NO INDOOR VOICE Flipping the Bird Fan Disservice Face–Heel Turn Frame-Up Chase Scene Killed Mid-Sentence I Did What I Had to Do Cat Scare Bloody Hilarious Loads and Loads of Characters Corpsing Big "NO!" Knight Templar Catch-Phrase Training Montage Fate Worse than Death Cat Fight Dark Action Girl Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Fantasy Films Star-Crossed Lovers Trailers Always Spoil Black Comedy Horror Films Cowboy Cop Plot Hole Redshirt Army Cloudcuckoolander Pet the Dog Hollywood Darkness Cassandra Truth Arch-Enemy Index of Film Westerns Annoying Younger Sibling Deus ex Machina German Films Every Car Is a Pinto May–December Romance Mundane Made Awesome Does Not Like Shoes Deliberately Monochrome Took a Level in Badass Offscreen Teleportation Boom, Headshot! Double Entendre Military and Warfare Films Homage Body Horror Last-Name Basis French Films Victoria's Secret Compartment Historical-Domain Character Rousing Speech Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Rewatch Bonus Reasonable Authority Figure She Cleans Up Nicely Happily Married It's Personal World of Ham Broken Aesop Crazy Jealous Guy Dying Moment of Awesome All Just a Dream Genre Throwback Air-Vent Passageway Handicapped Badass Abhorrent Admirer Up to Eleven Sexy Discretion Shot Heroic BSoD Redemption Equals Death Important Haircut Dropped a Bridge on Him Exactly What It Says on the Tin Death by Irony Badass Normal Guns Akimbo In Medias Res Car Fu Action Survivor The Stinger Love Triangle Getting Crap Past the Radar The Voiceless Wretched Hive Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Four-Temperament Ensemble Back from the Dead Spanner in the Works Sir Swears-a-Lot Malevolent Masked Men Awesome, but Impractical Obfuscating Stupidity Drugs Are Bad Woman Scorned Australian Movies Decoy Protagonist Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Ominous Latin Chanting The End... Or Is It? A.I. Is a Crapshoot Instant Death Bullet Same Language Dub This Is Gonna Suck Spiritual Successor Red Shirt Large Ham Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Hidden Depths Mighty Whitey Ms. Fanservice Naïve Newcomer Toplessness from the Back Show Within a Show Evil vs. Evil Married to the Job Names to Run Away from Really Fast Tempting Fate Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Break the Cutie Berserk Button The Stoic Hoist by His Own Petard Mood Whiplash Expository Hairstyle Change Word of God Animated Credits Opening Never Found the Body Setting Update Take a Third Option Break the Haughty Flashback Bring My Brown Pants Artistic License – Law I Need a Freaking Drink Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Call-Forward All There in the Script Death of a Child Never Trust a Trailer Big Eater Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Superhero Fatal Family Photo Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Crapsack World Gratuitous English Dramatic Irony Yandere Gorn Adaptational Heroism Horror Comedy Black Best Friend The Power of Love "The Reason You Suck" Speech Historical Hero Upgrade Grey and Gray Morality Rule of Three Vacation Films Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Line-of-Sight Name Very Loosely Based on a True Story Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Sassy Black Woman Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Alliterative Name Beauty Is Never Tarnished Wham Line Jump Scare Zombie Stories Karmic Death Gainax Ending Laser-Guided Karma Mugging the Monster My Greatest Failure The Hero Driven to Suicide Truth in Television Throwing Your Sword Always Works Leitmotif Cool Guns Visual Pun Your Head A-Splode Villain Protagonist "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Conspicuous CG Gilligan Cut Spared by the Adaptation Big Bad Duumvirate Greater-Scope Villain Anachronism Stew Fanservice Extra Bond One-Liner The Place Ax-Crazy The '90s Freudian Excuse Bloodier and Gorier Shell-Shocked Veteran Sole Survivor Real Life Writes the Plot